Wednesday, June 16, 2004

My avalanche of hits from Steven Den Beste's site is over; things are starting to calm down. Damn, that was fun.

Sperwer has sent me a couple emails with much Buddhism-related meat to consider; I'm trying to put together a massive post on the subject, but this might take a few days. Until that post appears, blogging at the Hairy Chasms will remain as gleefully inconsequential as ever.

Jay is putting together his book, and I've decided to start putting together my second book (you can buy the first one here or here!), based primarily on essays I've written on this blog. To make my mother happy, I'll probably clean up some of the language in the essays, but not much. In fact, one essay I want to write for inclusion in the book is "The (Inter)religious Implications of a Nasty Sense of Humor."

When I had a short run of Scary Spasms in Hairy Chasms printed, my mother, so proud that I'd "published" a book, immediately tried to sell copies of it to her co-workers in DC, most of whom are Mom's generation and view Howard Stern and South Park as alien phenomena. Suffice it to say that Scary Spasms in Hairy Chasms wasn't intended for the over-55 market, nor was it intended for the congenitally prudish of any age. It's been a slow-but-steady seller through Amazon, but I seem to have a hard time persuading people to buy it directly from me, even though it'd be cheaper for them (especially if they bought more than one copy) and more profitable for me.

The new book will be something of an about-face (content-wise) and will deal exclusively with religious topics. I don't see this book as a "contrast," per se, with Scary Spasms, because I view my religious stance and my sense of humor as of a piece. Cf. my interview with Barbara Walters for more information.

I don't have a working title for this book yet. I keep thinking it needs to be something with the words "Zen" and "Presbyterian" in it (so I can annoy both groups of people at once, because I can imagine many folks complaining they don't see much Zen or Presbyterianism in my essays), but I'm also thinking the book might need something both flashier and less... well, contrived as a title.

My hagiography of the Maximum Leader was appreciated, which means I get to keep all three of my testicles for another year. In the end, however, I had a bigger laugh and was more deeply touched by the Air Marshal's more down-to-earth tribute to Mike.

The Marmot's talking about the "capital move," i.e., the idea of moving South Korea's political capital southward. He's against it; I'm for it, and for the reason cited by ari(w)rong in the comments: having the capital in range of enemy fire is insane. But by the same token, it'd be nice to move Seoul's financial nerve center elsewhere.

JOB NEWS: A possible nibble from Woosung University in Taejeon. More news as it develops. Alas, Seoul National University says NO to the Hominid; they've hired their full-time staff for this semester, but they tell me they might be hiring in the spring. I can't wait that long.* If my college search doesn't bear fruit by this fall (I've been lobbing resumes), I have to start thinking about packing my bags. Being stuck in the limbo of earning marginal cash while not taking Korean class-- and therefore not accomplishing either of the things most important to me right now-- isn't a situation I like. It'd be a shame to leave Korea, but the irony is that it might almost be easier in the States to find that crucial balance of work, lodgings, and Korean courses.

[*I'll still be teaching at SNU, thanks to my ULS gig, through July and August.]

Other stuff:

The Maximum Leader has mentioned wanting to explore the question of the moral status of animals in reply to KBJ's vegetarian stance. KBJ recently published a letter from a (Christian) reader that might actually provide a good starting point for whatever argument the Maximum Leader hopes to craft. At the same time, KBJ did anticipate some of the content of this reader's letter when he wrote earlier-- here, for example.

It's official-- Andi likes her new logo. I think she made the right decision to start a new blog focused solely on religion; I'm enjoying the high-octane content.

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WHAT CORN AND PEANUTS ARE HIDDEN IN THE WARM AND STEAMING PILE?Vapid cultural commentary, pungent reviews, sundry Korea-related musings, fartological/scatological humor, and nondualistic Zen excretions in prose or poetry form.

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